Abstract

Software systems are everywhere. Over the past few decades, we have increasingly come to depend on these systems for our needs. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine a world without software now. With the growing influence of software, the software engineering industry became dominant in offering attractive career opportunities across the world. With the sudden arrival of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) systems in everyday lives – ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, to name a few – some software engineers are worried about their careers. The concern specially affects students and young professionals as they look into the future of their profession. This seminar will address the concern on several fronts: The unique position of software engineering among other engineering disciplines will be highlighted; specific challenges GenAI poses to software engineering practitioners will be outlined; and particular skills will be identified that upcoming software engineers can cultivate to turn GenAI’s challenges into opportunities. This seminar aims to offer a roadmap for software engineers to survive – and thrive – in the GenAI landscape.

Speaker’s Profile

Subhajit Datta has over 25 years of experience in software engineering practice, research, and teaching in industry and academia in the United States of America, Singapore, and India. He has led cross-functional software engineering teams in the design and development of large-scale software systems for enterprise customers. Subhajit has a passion for teaching and has delivered many courses for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as working professionals in the conventional classrooms, online and hybrid learning modes. Subhajit is the author of the books Software Engineering: Concepts and Applications (Oxford University Press, 2010) and Metrics-Driven Enterprise Software Development (J.Ross Publishing, 2007) which are widely used by practitioners and students in multiple countries. His forthcoming book Making Sense of Data (World Scientific, 2025) explores opportunities and challenges of an increasingly data-driven world. Subhajit’s has many research publications in frontline venues. Subhajit has a Ph.D. and an M.S. in computer science from the Florida State University, United States of America, and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Jadavpur University, India.